Pocket PC Reliable?

I'm a long time Palm user, however, I'm thinking of moving over to the Pocket PC platform.

When I first considered Palm vs. Pocket PC (this was 4 years ago) there was a lot of talk about how Pocket PC would crash and often wipe out all the data.

And since I am a GTD user, not having my "information" on hand would be very, very bad

I use my Palm very regularly. I often pull it out every half hour or so (I'm not always in the office. Also, on business trips, I often don't have access to my PC to sync, so I need device to be very reliable).

Anyway, what do you Pocket PC users say about the reliability of your device?

I have been a Pocket PC User since Jan 2002 and have never lost any data (excpt for the first couple of days where I didn't know that if you allowed the unit to completely discharge you could lose everything - Psion 5x's which is where I was coming from weren't like that). This is also true of the Palm that I have.

I have been really happy with the Pocket PC platform and for the most part find it pretty stable. I do need to do the odd soft-reset (no loss of data in such cases) but this is mostly related to add-on apps, not vanilla Pocket PC.

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I implore you to stay with Palm OS. Even though Clie might be dead, the new Palm OS 6 and new devices from Palm should up the ante. In addition, Palm OS's screen resolution is better and thus the pictures are prettier. What would be one good advantage of a Pocket PC?

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Palm OS's screen resolution is better and thus the pictures are prettier.

This statement is false.
1) Operating System (Palm OS) cannot have the screen resolution. It can support some screen resolutions but you cannot say it "has" the screen resolution.
2) As far as I know T3 device has 320 x 480 screen resolution while the newest PocketPC devices have VGA (480 x 640) screen resolution.
TesTeq (Palm Tungsten E very happy user)

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There is nothing inherently "better" about a Palm display. Each platform has its advantages - it really depends on what ou'll be using the PDA for. I've used Palm devices for years but am currently using a Pocket PC device. I've gotten a lot of value from both. There are good apps on both platforms for GTD.

The real value in a PDA is how rigorously you use it. Any PDA can be nothing more than a paperweight if you aren't disciplined about keeping it up-to-date with your primary environment.

Platform "wars" are pretty boring IMO. Try to spend some time demo-ing each and see which feels better to you. That's the only way to really decide.

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My friend uses PocketPC PDA/mobile phone combination and has to hard reset it twice per month on average. Besides he has to be very careful during battery charger disconnection - when done with wrong timing may cause data loss.
I have never experienced such problems with Palms with operating system version less than 5.0. But unfortunately Palm extends its OS and some modules in PalmOS >5.0 were not tested appropriately and required patches.
TesTeq

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This is a failing of PPC devices. My solution is to regularly create a backup on a memory card. My Toshiba e740 has both a CF and a SD slot. It takes about two minutes and I do it as part of regular PC backup routine.

I've only had this happen once and was able to immediately restore from my CF card.

Never underestimate the value of a good, regular backup of all of your devices. Hardware is relatively easy to replace. Your data is priceless.

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Never underestimate the value of a good, regular backup of all of your devices.

Backup must be regular and GOOD. You have to take into account that the media you use for backup may be unreliable too. So you need at least two CF disks and make backups on both of them using some clever policy. Some time ago I was incrementally backuping my desktop computer on one CDR but suddenly it became unreadable . Fortunately the desktop computer was OK .
So always MAKE GOOD, REGULAR BACKUPS!
TesTeq

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I implore you to stay with Palm OS. Even though Clie might be dead, the new Palm OS 6 and new devices from Palm should up the ante. In addition, Palm OS's screen resolution is better and thus the pictures are prettier. What would be one good advantage of a Pocket PC?

Big reason I'm getting a Pocket PC now that my Palm is dead: there are no reliable low-cost Palms at the moment. The Zire 72 and Tungsten E are getting bad reliability reviews at amazon.com (several complaints about them dying after 8 months). And the best Palms - Sony Clie's - are no longer being manufactured.

Whereas on the Pocket PC side, we have the Dell Axim X30 which has been getting illustrious reviews and is in the same price range. (Can't wait until mine arrives - it's got WiFi and Bluetooth!!)